Losses Don’t Diminish Tran’s Fine Season

Garden Grove’s Cynthia Tran was an easy selection for The Times Orange County girls’ player of the year. She dominated nearly every one of her opponents, losing to only one player the entire season.

Tran became so accustomed to winning, that when she finally lost her first match, near the end of the season, she broke down in tears.

She had a 48-0 record heading into the Southern Section Individual finals, where she would meet Alhambra sophomore Stella Ng. Tran lost, 11-5, 11-6. Two weeks later, in the second round of the section Division I team playoffs, Ng would again defeat Tran, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7,

“By the end of the season [Tran] was tight,” Garden Grove Coach Vicki Toutz said. “She was always expected to win and that is hard on anyone.”

Tran’s losses to Ng did not keep her from leading her team to the Southern Section Division I finals. She won her two singles matches against Alhambra Keppel, but the Aztecs defeated Garden Grove, 10-9.

“She’s so mentally tough,” Toutz said of Tran, a junior. “Even as a freshman she was that way. She’s very positive and a very humble player. There isn’t anything I ask her to do that she won’t do, whether it is physically tough or mental.”

Tran’s athletic prowess carries over to another court. She is one of the top players on the Garden Grove girls’ tennis team.

Interestingly, one game doesn’t benefit another. While a badminton player’s wrist will remain flexible and help in making arching shots, a tennis player is instructed to keep the forearm stiff to help hit line drives. Consequently, Tran sometimes knocks the shuttlecock into the net. But not often.

“I expect great things from her next year,” said Toutz, who will be replaced at the program’s helm by her assistant coach, Prat Mallawong. “Her tenacity and her fight even when she is down keeps her going. She should be so proud of what she accomplished this year.”